Tuesday, January 31, 2006

MRI (CHOP)

Tracy actually had to wake Max up at 4:20 for his shower. It was refreshing to know that he could sleep that late. He was kind of funny because he claimed to not know where he was. He was refreshingly nice this morning. Even when Tracy told him that she couldn't find his 'prize' for today and that he would have to wait until he got home, he maintained his good attitude. Of course at that hour there was absolutely no traffic and we only hit rain as we pulled into town so we were here at 6:20 am.

We met one of the most pleasant receptionists we have ever run into at CHOP (not to say they aren't all nice - she was REALLY REALLY nice). Sheila said that Max reminded her of her own son and told us a story about a chemistry set that his Dad gave him many years ago (I suspect he is around my age, not Max's). Everything was okay with the set and nothing exploded but it was nice to have someone to talk to that early. Max had gone around the corner and was laughing at something but he was all alone without a TV so we didn't know what he was doing.

We got to get setup for the MRI early and Max started his sedation at 8:00 am. Not sure what order they use for the drugs, but the first one is certainly psychedelic. He was sort of waving his finger with the pulse/oxygen monitor (glows red like ET) around in front of his eyes but was unable to focus. The second drug seemed to knock him out but while they were giving him the third and final drug he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling (very small pupils at that point). He heard me ask if he was okay but took many seconds to answer that he was fine. Right before he lost consciousness he looked at the nurse and said, "this is how I wink" and he winked at her with only his left eye. That is something he is unable to accomplish sober - then it is more of a two-eyed blink. Not sure what to make of that but it was amusing.

The MRI went pretty well but Max started to wake up near the end and required a second dose of meds. That kept him asleep for more than 90 minutes after it was over and he was pretty grumpy. He slept for most of the ride home but was still pretty disoriented when we got home so Bob had to pick Gwendolyn up from school (Tracy can't carry our 80+ boy anywhere anymore).

This is Max's blog/journal/diary which chronicles his life since we learned of brian tumors in 2004. This wasn't started until May 2007 when he had to start a second chemo drug because of hypothalmic tumor growth. His original site is still available and has the non journal type stuff like test results, diagnosis, and some other information.
The old diary entires are still being moved here. In starting this process I've learned that I didn't update enough during the good times so I need to fill in some gaps as well. It will take some time but hopefully not too long.